Plunkett, Sir Horace Curzon (1854-1932), was a pioneer of the cooperative farming movement in Ireland. Although he was a Protestant, he commanded the respect of the Irish Roman Catholics for his enlightened views on land reform and social policy. In 1894, he founded the Irish Agricultural Organization Society. The society worked to encourage Irish farmers to form cooperatives, groups of farmers who joined together to get higher prices for their products. By 1898, the society had branches in every county in Ireland.
Plunkett was born on Oct. 24, 1854, at Sherborne House, in Gloucestershire, England. He was educated at Eton College and Oxford University. From 1879 to 1889, Plunkett lived in the United States, where he amassed a substantial fortune operating a Montana ranch. He returned to Ireland in 1889. Plunkett served as a member of Parliament from 1892 to 1900 and was a senator in the Irish Free State government in 1922 and 1923. In 1902, Plunkett was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, one of the world’s foremost scientific organizations. He was knighted in 1903. He died on March 26, 1932.
